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Monday, 5 December 2011

MY EXPERIENCES WITH THEATRE

As a newly married girl all of 21 years, I suddenly realised there were many things I had forgotten to experience and explore. So, there I was auditioning to join a theatre group. I was selected though not for my dubious acting skills...the theatre group manager was so impressed by the fact that a married woman was willing to step out of the house and encounter unexplored territory that the moment he set eyes upon my resume he knew he was going to ask me to be a member of his group.

I had the happiest moments of my life doing theatre and I felt the need to share with you all my experiences little by little ...piece by piece.

It was many years ago that I had seen a production of a well known play performed by a theatre group. And then there I was a part of the group some years later. Every day that I was there it brought back memories of the theatre I did as a girl. The fun, the togetherness, the gossip, the funny comments, the nastiness, the tension, the butterflies, the being part of something that other people are going to come and watch, each transported me back to the days long gone but never forgotten. Away from the humdrum of daily routine, it was those two hours of practice that breathed life into me and made me look forward to the next day with eagerness and I came home to my very supportive husband invigorated.

It’s not about being very talented or confident or being a professional dancer or an actor, it’s just about doing something that rekindles that fire in you and makes you feel alive. It also teaches you a lot about yourself, your strengths, your weaknesses, about people and what makes them tick. I would not be telling the truth if I don’t mention that it is also about the kick you get from performing on stage in front of an audience. But it was only when I left myself at home and took the dancer or the actor (however bad) to the stage that I could really enjoy. Oscar Wilde said “I love acting. It’s so much more real than life”. So I was actually reconstructing life on stage but only someone else’s.

I am a great one for talking but a lot of my fellow theatre members will I am sure remind me of our first practice on stage. Well nothing special except the fact that I literally froze and my lips refused to budge into anything even akin to a smile. A lot of practices and tears later it no longer looked like I had been dragged onto the stage by my other partners. And thus it was that I looked forward to the big day, and fervently hoped that this time my lips would comply and my feet would do what my heart does every time I am on stage— take to wings and soar.

So ladies and gentlemen, yes you out there. If you feel you have it in you and those who feel you don’t, get up and listen to the rapturous reverberating applause in your ears and be a part of something that will make you forget yourself. It’s something you will never forget.

5 comments:

Indeed... I have never fogotten having done a couple of plays...fantastic experiences...a rehearsal that went for three months... what with 10 different characters playing unique roles.. yes, one feels so alive.. and that deafening applause at the end from the audience.. can there ever be anythng more musical than that... well written.. let it flow..

Nirja Dear, Theater is the right forum to remind us that we are here on earth to play our respective roles on the stage of life and then move on. But how we get lost in the play, forgetting the fact that it is all playacting and nothing more.

I am reminded of an incident that took place many years ago in Kolkata. The very accomplished Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was once watching a play in which a particular villainous character played his role so well that when the villain was about to harm the female lead in a scene of great intensity, Vidyasagar could no longer contain himself and taking off one of his shoes, he jumped onto the stage, threatening to beat up the actor who was playing the villain. Of course, the actor was himself of great stature and refused to return Vidyasagar's shoe, saying that it was a complement to his acting skills like no other ever and he would retain it as a souvenir. He, the actor felt elated that his role playing had so moved even the great Vidyasagar that he forgot that it was only a play that he was watching and no harm would actually come to the lady, nor was any harm ever intended.

Such is our delusion that we take to be real that which we perceive with our senses, which we all know, can so very easily be deceived.

So what should be done? Well, practice contemplation and awaken from the deep sleep that mankind has slumped into.

About Me

An individual full of contradictions can only hope that life in words will pave a way for a harmonious yet challenging life.
I began writing this blog hopeful that many more will find this a space where they could vent and share their innermost feelings especially those who are CEOs of their own work space; work space created with love and warmth, their home office.